Staffies take a bow wow…

The powerball of the canine world, emerged triumphant in this week’s vote to find our (UK) best-loved breed.

All hail the Staffie, Britain’s favourite dog. This irre-pressible bundle of fun, the powerball of the canine world, emerged triumphant in this week’s marathon live TV vote to find our (UK) best-loved breed.

During two-and-a-half hours of wagtastic television, which I co-hosted with my dogloving chum and radio DJ Sara Cox, thousands of viewers cast votes for labradors, springer spaniels, cockapoos, boxers and border collies — but it was the Staffordshire bull terrier that took first place.

I can’t say I was even slightly surprised. As a boy, growing up above my father’s veterinary clinic in London, I played with Staffies constantly. They were hugely popular in the Seventies, as now, and I’d guess a third of the dogs my dad treated were Staffies.

There are few better pets for a boisterous boy than a bonkers Staffordshire bull terrier. They are born clowns, who love laughter and highenergy play. Naturally, my sisters and I took to the breed on sight.

So I have to confess I was baffled and hurt, a day before Tuesday’s live vote on Britain’s Top 100 Dogs, when a Radio 5 presenter made an extraordinary attack on me — claiming I had launched into a tirade about ‘nasty, dangerous’ Staffordshire bull terriers in front of his wife in a London park.

The radio host, Nihal Arthanayake, opened a discussion about the breed by telling listeners to his afternoon show: ‘There is a very well-known TV presenter who was once quite rude about my Staffie in public. My wife was in Queen’s Park with our kids and our Staffie, and this fellow goes up to his kid and says: “They’re nasty dogs, they’re dangerous dogs.” ’

This incident, he said, occurred about nine years ago. He added: ‘I’m not going to tell you it was Ben Fogle, but the guy is an absolute wrong ’un.’

When I heard that, I was speechless. It was completely untrue. I’m quite certain I have never visited Queen’s Park, in North-west London. Nine years ago my daughter wasn’t born and my son, Ludo, was a tiny baby; when we went out, I carried him in a papoose.

Bad owners have given the breed an undeserved reputation for aggression, but I know from many years of happy Staffie romps that they are the perfect companion for children. One of their nicknames, after all, is the Nanny Dog, because they’re just so good at looking after small humans.